I got my weekly(or is it daily) email from Fine Woodworking(FWW) and they had an advertisement for the beginning of a Dovetail Techniques series by Stephen Hammer on several kinds of dovetails. I watched the preview and was so fascinated with the curved dovetail that I had to mock it up in SketchUp.
A beautiful piece of art. They gave just a glimpse of him making them in the teaser. Just enough that I was able to draw it out. Some views of the Pin board:
And th...

I ran across the ”Workbench clamp for perfect dovetails” article by Michael Pekovich from Fine Woodworking.
The article suggests drilling holes in your bench to accomodate pipe clamps to hold down a guide board. I REALLY like the clamp idea but even though I revere a bench as a consumable, I’d rather not drill THAT big of holes in it.
I’ve come up with an alternate solution that does not require any new holes in your bench. This means it can also be used in whome...

The purpose of this blog is to share my adventure with learning to make hand cut dovetails. I decided that I wanted to make furniture with better joinery, that meant getting over my fear of dovetails. My first dovetail was an epic failure, not only because the gaps were huge but it had no tails, see the pic below. From DovetailsFrom DovetailsBut I must say the experience is getting better. I have watch lots of video on Youtube, Wood Whisperer (Woodtalkonline.com) and LumberJocks.I have chos...

Last week I received my Veritas dovetail saw and planned on having a dovetail practice session this past Labor Day weekend. Saturday, after straightening out my shop, I got out all of the tools that I would need and laid them on the work table near the front vise. I always have plenty of maple at the plant so I had brought home several pieces of soft maple that had been surfaced 4 sides to 3/4 in. x 5-1/2 in.
I planned on making 4 practice corners and to take a break after completing each ...

Well I finally got the lid back together. My better half thought it looked too good to stay in the garage, but after checking it out in the bed room, it is too small for the foot of the bed. Close call.
As I was mortising the hinges, I dropped the lid onto a front corner. Popped one of the mitered bridle joints. I thought I had clamped the frame to tightly onto the panel but the fit is ok. Reglued the joint, doweled it from underneath. Fit is good and looks ak. It is a tool ches...

I have been busy practicing dovetails. If there is a way to do it wrong I have done it, but last night I was able to make several “right”. I have developed “tennis elbow” with all the hammering with the mallet. It will be a good story to tell the doctor when I get home. We just bought a lathe and Kindlingmaker is having fun making lots of shavings, but I won’t touch it until I get back from class. The poplar practice table is put together and looks very presentab...

A while back I posted a review of Major League Woodworking’s Home Run 4-Pak.
Anyway, my current shop project is a four drawer storage cabinet that sits below my Table Saw. Building this gave me the opportunity to use dovetail joinery for the drawers and putting the 4 Pak to work.
After watching Tom McDonalds videos on how to cut DT’s I started hacking away. Below you will see a picture ofmy first attempt at hand cutting DTs.
I used the 4-Pack marking gauge to layou...

While I would like to believe that I could dedicate enough time each day to run to the shop and chop a set of tails, I know that I’m kidding myself. But I’m determined to give myself the practice necessary to improve my sawing and chiseling skills, in the hopes that I can develop the kind of muscle memory I see in some of the really good woodworkers.
To give you some context, I started this hobby around early 2006. I am, by no means, an excellent woodworker, but I strive to c...

Hey everyone,
This podcast is on hand cutting dovetails. I’ve had a few problems with some things in my printer table so it will take longer than i expected to get the third episode out. I figured i would add this one so i am not podcast less for another week or two. I think that everyone will like it. I had originally planned on having this and other videos on the same podcast for like a library of different joints but those are not filmed yet. So i hope that you like it and i hop...